Where Are the Younger Middle-Grade Books?

In December I aired my Festivus grievance against the lack of really good, engaging, and developmentally appropriate books for toddlers, particularly those that would be good for group read-alouds, i.e. toddler storytime. But that is not my only frustration with kid-lit. In the last year I have come to realize how challenging it is to find *new* middle-grade fiction for the younger end of middle-grade after a restructuring changed my collection development focus from birth through teen to birth through age 11, and expanded the teen department to include upper middle-grade, which used to be included in the juvenile collection.

That has left me with quite the conundrum. "Middle Grade" is generally considered ages 8-12 (though that range varies depending on who you ask, and many erroneously conflate "middle grade" to mean "middle school"), and this re-structuring resulted in middle-grade being split between two locations and two selectors.  As I shifted my focus to the younger end of middle-grade and tried to search out books that were for elementary ages and had protagonists that were closer to 10, I had a really hard time finding anything beyond beginner/transitional chapter books and graphic novels/comics.

Apparently, there is an unwritten rule that middle-grade protagonists must be 12 years old and in 7th grade. I really didn't realize just how consistent it was until I began purposefully looking for books for the younger end with younger protagonists. Lists of hot and upcoming middle-grade books are predominantly for the older end of the range, almost always with 12-year old characters and frequently featuring subjects and situations that are a little mature or complex for elementary kids. Using the "ages 9-11" audience filter on the vendor site yields, once again, books with 12 year-old protagonists and often more mature/complex subject matter, but when I use the "ages 8-9" filter, I generally get few results and more of the really short, highly illustrated transitional and beginning chapter books, and even still get books more for middle schoolers.

Of course I know kids generally like to read about kids slightly older than themselves, but can an 8 year old in 3rd grade *really* relate that well to a 12-year old seventh-grader dealing with all the angst of changing friendships, peer pressure, and budding romances of middle school? That's a big difference in development and life experience. And while there are books with 12-year old characters that are clearly written for a younger audience, they can often be difficult to find and identify. I feel like it shouldn't be so hard to find "meatier" MG fiction, something beyond transitional/beginner chapter books, that is truly written for the younger middle grade audience of strong readers.

It hasn't always been that way, has it? I can think of a number of great middle-grade classics, many of which are still popular, that are for the younger end of the MG range. Beverly Cleary's Ramona series follows Ramona from age 5 to age 10, Henry Huggins ranges from age 8-11, and Keith is 8 years old at the beginning of The Mouse and the Motorcycle series. Fern in E. B. White's Charlotte's Web is also eight, and Peter from Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is 9, while Margaret from If You're There, God... is 11. Dorothy's age is never explicitly stated in The Wizard of Oz series, but can be extrapolated from comparison to another character to be 11. 

While there are some more contemporary middle-grade fiction books for younger readers, they seem to be few and far between and often have non-human main characters. Some that come to mind are A Boy Called Bat by Elana Arnold, Katherine Applegate's The One and Only... series, Odder, Dogtown, and Crenshaw; and Peter Brown's The Wild Robot series. Gordan Korman's books typically have older characters, but appeal to a younger audience, as do series like The Last Kids on Earth, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and The Dork Diaries. I know there are others I'm forgetting, but I could easily throw out dozens of titles and series for the top end of MG fiction without have to think too hard or browse the collection. 

So, what's going on? I can only speculate, but I'm sure part of it is that I just haven't figured out the best way to find what I'm looking for. I also think part of it is that previously there were not enough transitional and beginning chapter books, and to meet that demand the focus shifted from publishing short novels for the younger end of middle grade to the much shorter, highly illustrated transitional books. In addition, the rapid rise in popularity of graphic novels combined with parents and teachers becoming more accepting of this format further shifted focus away from prose to graphic formats. And finally, I suspect that publishers know kids are more likely to read about characters older than themselves than younger, and therefore decided to set the age of all middle-grade characters at the top end of the age range, figuring younger readers would still read about 12-year olds, but the 12-year olds aren't going to read about a 10 year old. 

Has anyone else found selecting new fiction that is not graphic novels or transitional books for older elementary kids to be a challenge, or is it just me? Know of any great books to fill this niche that have been published in the last year, or will be published this year?

Time Audit Continued - Another Month in the Work Life of a Children's Librarian

 

In a previous post I described conducting a time audit and the results of the first month (November). I found the time audit helpful and decided to continue tracking my time. I made a few changes to make it easier and less time consuming, and combined some categories. Before I was logging everything on paper and doing calculations by hand, which took a lot more time that I had expected. I liked being able to have a paper log on a clipboard that I could keep handy, so I came up with a hybrid method using a simplified paper log to quickly jot down what I was doing and for how long, and then would enter it into a spreadsheet later, and set up a pivot table to figure out all the totals, and a pie chart that I could update as I went along.

Once again, the categories and sub-categories I used are below:

• Programming
• Researching - Looking for ideas, checking out performers, testing activities, etc.
• Planning - When, what, and how activities will be done, making written plan, ordering/buying supplies
• Prep/Set Up - Prepping materials, setting up room, putting things out, making signs, writing & printing directions, making slides, etc.
• Execution - The actual program
• Clean Up/Take Down - Putting things away, cleaning, putting furniture back
• Administrative - Putting events in calendar, recording attendance, compiling stats, marketing 
• Outreach
• Researching - Looking for potential clients/partners and making initial contacts
• Planning - Planning specific activities and making written plan
• Preparation - Getting everything ready to go, pulling books to take
• Execution - The actual outreach visit or event
• Administrative - Scheduling, recording attendance, compiling stats
• Collection Management
• Maintenance - Weeding, ordering replacements, un-"NEW" ing
• Development - Selection, patron requests, ordering
• Marketing - Displays, bibliographies, reviews, social media spotlights, etc.
• Customer Service
• Children's Desk - assigned to children's service desk
• Main Circ Desk - assigned to main circ desk
• Spontaneous - When stopped by patrons needing help while on the floor or walking through, stepping in at desk during busy times to help.
• Professional Development - conferences, webinars, courses, workshops, reading professional journals, trade magazines, blogs
• Training & Supervising of Staff - Providing training for, giving instructions to, answering questions from, or evaluating direct report and other staff
• Administrative - Time spent on time audit and any other paperwork, reporting, or managerial duties not specifically related to programming, outreach, collection work, or supervising direct report; general meetings, email, and phone calls.
• Breaks - brief paid breaks taken on the clock, not counting quick trips to the restroom less than 5 minutes
• Other - All the unexpected miscellaneous stuff that comes up, all the conversations with coworkers not directly or exclusively related to any of the other categories, decorating the department, cleaning, organizing, etc. Anything that doesn't fit the above categories but is still work-related. Conversations that were exclusively social in nature are recorded as breaks.

And here are the results for January, which ended up being closer to 3 weeks than 4 due to holidays and snow days:

This month was more balanced that the previous one, with a little less time spent on programming and more spent on collection work and outreach. This is pretty close to what I think it should be, though ideally, I would like to spend more time on customer service and less time in meetings. Logging time spent at the service desk was also a bit of a conundrum, since I often work on other projects when it's slow. I ended up logging time spent on projects while at the desk under the relevant categories, so the actual time spent at the service desk isn't accurately represented here. 

Taking a closer look at programming shows once again that time spent in the execution of the program is only the tip of the iceberg:

Compared to November, I spent even less time on the execution of programs and more on researching and planning. This is due to one of the weekly storytimes being taken over by another staff member and my spending a lot of time on booking performers for summer and researching ideas for in-house programs for summer, in addition to planning programs for March and April. During this time period I did the weekly toddler storytime, monthly Pokemon and Lego programs, a family craft program, and 2 Kidbrarians for a total of 8 programs.

I really found continuing the time audit to be very helpful. Updating the pie chart each day was very helpful in setting priorities and deciding what to focus on when I found I had a nice chunk of un-scheduled time with no urgent deadlines, This kept collection work and professional development from being inadvertently pushed to the back burner, and forced me to be more decisive in programming and collection development, rather than over-researching and going down rabbit holes.

Now that I have a system set up that works for me, I am going to continue until I have a year's worth of data. I think it will be interesting to see how much the distribution changes from month to month, and the yearly averages over all. 

January Toddler Storytimes

Rather than writing up individual storytimes, I decided to write a whole month's worth in one post, since I use the same songs all month and don't really have over-arching themes. [For more details about how I structure toddler storytime and why, see my basic toddler storytime plan.]

This month's songs/rhymes were:

• Welcome: "Hello My Friends"
• Warm-Up: "The Wheels on the Bus"
• Movement 1: "Shake Your Shakers" w/egg shakers
• Movement 2: "Colors" w/egg shakers
• Lead-In: "If You're Ready for a Story"
• Movement 3: "Roly-Poly"
• Movement 4: "Ten Little Bubbles" with bubbles
• Good-bye: "Storytime Is Over"

The books and activities for each week (only 3 because of snow cancellation one week):

1. Book: Bear Has a Belly by Jane Whittingham. A great book for toddler storytime written by a fellow children's librarian! It has photographs of animals for kids to identify and imitate, naming body parts, as well as tips for caregivers. Love it!
   
   Activities: Animal pop beads, rabbit builders, fish builders, sensory balls & tubes, markers & paper.
   
   
2. Book: Mouse's First Snow by Lauren Thompson & Buket Erdogan. Join little Mouse and his father as he explores a winter wonderland for the first time. This "Mouse's First" series is great for toddlers and younger preschoolers, who are also experiencing many "firsts" of their young lives. 
   
   Activities: Felt snowflakes and snowmen on the flannel board, giant pom-pom snowballs & buckets to toss into, foam blocks, sensory tubes & balls
   
   
3. Book: Everything a Drum by Sarah Warren & Camila Carrossine. This is a perfect book for toddler storytime or a music & movement program. The story is narrated by a caregiver, and pictures a toddler using everyday items like a drum. After I read the book I led the kids through a few listen-and-repeat simple clapping patterns. While I clapped my hands, I told them they could clap their hands, pat their tummy, or slap their thighs.
   
   Activities: Assorted musical instruments along with bowls, pots, boxes, bins, and spoons. It was quite the cacophony, but the kids loved it! 
   
   
   

How It Went
These all went really well, though I've had to really dig to build up a list of good books for toddler storytime without repeating to often. I know repetition is good for toddlers, but I also feel that in addition to supporting developing early literacy skills, storytime should also expand caregivers' awareness of a variety of children's books, particularly those in the library's collection.

Time Audit - A Month In the Life of a Children's Librarian

 

As I mentioned previously, we were recently required to do a time audit where I work. If you aren't familiar with time audits, it involves tracking how much time is spent on different activities, tasks, and/or projects and analyzing to spot trends and improve efficiency. Time audits are a bit tedious, take time in and of themselves, and can make staff feel distrusted and micro-managed when assigned by management, but I do think they can be valuable. In fact, I'd coincidentally started doing one on my own shortly before all full-time staff were asked to do them by the director. I'll give a breakdown of how I did my time audit, how my time was spent over a four-week period, and how I hope to use this information.

We were asked to record everything we did all day long by task, duration, and category, and total each category by day and by week. I took it a step further and did totals and percentages over a month, as I felt that would be a more accurate representation since there is so much variation day to day, and even week to week. We were allowed to decide if we wanted to record on paper or set up a spreadsheet, and to set whatever categories made the most sense for our department and jobs. I found it easier and more accurate to set up a chart on paper on a clipboard I could keep handy, but then I had to do all the calculations myself, which was time-consuming.

The categories (and sub-categories for some) I used are below:

• Programming
• Researching - Looking for ideas, checking out performers, testing activities, etc.
• Planning - When, what, and how activities will be done, making written plan, ordering/buying supplies
• Prep/Set Up - Prepping materials, setting up room, putting things out, making signs, writing & printing directions, making slides, etc.
• Execution - The actual program
• Clean Up/Take Down - Putting things away, cleaning, putting furniture back
• Administrative - Putting events in calendar, recording attendance, compiling stats, marketing 
• Outreach
• Researching - Looking for potential clients/partners and making initial contacts
• Planning - Planning specific activities and making written plan
• Preparation - Getting everything ready to go, pulling books to take
• Execution - The actual outreach visit or event
• Administrative - Scheduling, recording attendance, compiling stats
• Collection Management
• Maintenance - Weeding, ordering replacements, displays, un-"NEW" ing
• Development - Selection, patron requests, ordering
• Customer Service
• Children's Desk - assigned to children's service desk
• Main Circ Desk - assigned to main circ desk
• Spontaneous - When stopped by patrons needing help while on the floor or walking through, stepping in at desk during busy times to help.
• Professional Development - conferences, webinars, courses, workshops, reading professional journals, trade magazines, blogs
• Training & Supervising of Staff - Providing training for, giving instructions to, answering questions from, or evaluating direct report and other staff
• Meetings - General meetings; any meetings specifically about programming or outreach are recorded under those categories
• Email/Phone Calls - general; emails/phone calls specifically about programming or outreach are recorded as administrative duties under the respective category
• Administrative - Time spent on time audit and any other paperwork, reporting, or managerial duties not specifically related to programming, outreach, collection work, or supervising direct report.
• Breaks - brief paid breaks taken on the clock, not counting quick trips to the restroom less than 5 minutes
• Other - All the unexpected miscellaneous stuff that comes up, all the conversations with coworkers not directly or exclusively related to any of the other categories, decorating the department, cleaning, organizing, etc. Anything that doesn't fit the above categories

I was told I should be spending 40% of my time on programming, 25% on outreach, 20% on collection management, 10% on professional development, and 5% on administrative tasks. However, this doesn't account for meetings, training & supervising direct reports, customer service, communication, all the "other" things I do as part of my job like decorating, cleaning and organizing, talking to coworkers, and yes, breaks. The math simply doesn't math, and I don't know how I'm supposed to reconcile that, but hopefully the time audit will help.

After tracking my time for 4 weeks, I totaled everything and calculated percentages, which I've shown below for all the main categories. As you can see, the reality was very different from the expectations we were given:

Since over half of my time was spent on programming, let's take a closer look at programming specifically, and all that it entails. During this 4-week period I was responsible for 15 programs: 6 regular storytimes, 2 special expanded storytimes, Pokémon Club, Lego Club, homeschool hangout (in collaboration with YA librarian), a special STEM program, a Halloween party, and two Kidbrarians. In addition, I had the ongoing passive Dinovember program, which required staging our toy dinosaurs and posting photos twice a week, and had to plan upcoming programs. 

We all know that there is more that goes into programming than just the time spent in the actual programs, so I used multiple sub-categories in my time audit to reflect that and really get a clearer picture of where my time was going. Below is the breakdown of how much time I spent on each aspect of programming:

As you can see, the time spent in the actual program is only the tip of the iceberg, and more than two hours of additional time go into making every hour of program happen. And that's not including the labor from other staff assisting. If I didn't have any help, it would be at least a 3:1 ratio, if not more. This was no surprise to me, and I'm sure it is not a surprise to anyone else who regularly does programming. 

I'm not at all surprised by most of these results, in fact. I already knew I spent a significant amount of time on programming, at the expense of collection management, outreach, and customer service, and I also knew there were many "other" aspects to my job that the expectations above didn't account for. But now I have some data to back that up. 

I do feel the time audit has been useful, and being forced to write things down has helped me stay more focused and on task. I know I still need to work on better organization, time management, and advance planning, and as I improve in those areas I will be able to shift some more time back to collection development, which had been pushed to the back burner over the last year due to staffing issues. I am also turning the weekly preschool storytime over to the part-time children's assistant, as well as some of the summer programs, which will free up time for me to add 1-2 more outreach visits per month. I am expected to add more programs for 4th-6th graders in the fall, and I hope by that time I will be able to delegate at least one monthly program in order to free up time for that.

I'm told that I need to delegate more of the "other" tasks and more of the programming prep, and I'm trying, but it's hard to delegate when you don't have enough reliable staff with the right skills available when you need them. I really think we need additional qualified youth services staff besides myself and one part-time assistant to pick up some of the programming and "other" duties, as well as cover the children's service desk consistently to provide better customer service by having the desk staffed when people are in the department. Currently, the children's service desk is rarely staffed, and I think that besides not being very welcoming, it hurts our circulation by not having a qualified person readily available in the children's department to provide reader's advisory and other assistance, and doesn't allow us to build relationships with, and get valuable feedback from, patrons that use the children's department. In addition, I have observed that having a consistent staff presence also encourages more appropriate behavior and results in much less mess and destruction.

I plan to continue tracking my time to get a more accurate picture of how I spend my time by tracking over a longer time period, since every month is a bit different. One month might be heavier in professional development if I attend a conference, summer is heavier in programming, and some months just seem to have a whole lot of "other". This particular month was heavier in programming because of Dinovember, and heavier in "other" because of changing seasonal décor and unpacking and setting up the furniture and accessories for our new dramatic play area. My hope is that once I have improved my organization and time-management and I have more data I can demonstrate everything I am doing, how much time programming really takes, and that we really do need more staff in order to do more programming and outreach (which I agree the community needs). 

Has anyone else done a time audit? How did it go, and were you surprised by the results? What do you find taking up the bulk of your time? How were the results used? Any great time-management tips? Anyone know a great, flexible time-audit form/template that is easy to adapt to the categories you need and does all the calculations for you? I am finding doing it by hand takes far more time than I'd imagined, so I'm planning on switching to a digital format.

Annual Reflection & Goal Setting - 2025

 

I've now been working in public libraries for 12 years (in March), writing this blog for nearly 10 years, and have been a degreed, professional librarian for four years. Every year before I write my annual reflection and goal setting post I review the previous few years. Every year since 2020 I have hoped the new year would bring some peace, but it never seems to quite work out that way, and this year was no exception. 

2024 was another difficult year, with many changes and challenges, including an unexpected restructuring and changing of job descriptions so that I am no longer a youth services manager over birth through teen (that position was eliminated), and am now the children's librarian, for birth through 6th grade. A new YA librarian position was created for teens and new adults (now as a separate department), and the vacant adult services manager position was also re-classified as just a librarian position rather than a manager. I no longer have the same level of autonomy I had before and now have to work under a very autocratic management style, which is not a management style I personally thrive under. All the changes were very unexpected and have been difficult to get used to, but it is what it is and I'm adjusting my expectations accordingly.

However, it wasn't all bad; some good things did happen and I was able to accomplish some of my goals, as well as others:

• I was finally able to fill the children's assistant position that had been vacant for a year.
• My programming budget, which had been slashed by the previous director, was returned to the previous level.
• Asked for and received additional storage cabinets in the program room, more than doubling our storage space, and finally have everything pretty well-organized.
• Also received an additional storage cabinet and shelving for my office. Still working on getting that all organized, but made significant progress.
• I was finally able to attend the ALSC conference. It was really great to spend a couple of days among my fellow children's librarians from all over the country and share ideas and experiences! (I was also very flattered when one person recognized me from my published research article and another recognized me from this little blog.)
• Finished the deep-dive into incentivized reading research I'd been wanting to do for a few years and wrote an article about the problems with traditional, heavily incentivized reading programs, as well as one on what we should do instead, complete with annotated bibliography.
• Had a very successful summer program, which though very busy, was also more enjoyable than stressful.
• Increased programming, developing a very well-received "Kidbrarian" program, adding a monthly Bricks, Blocks, Build! program for all ages (Legos, Duplos, Mega Bloks, and various other building sets/toys) and adding a monthly homeschool hangout-type program in collaboration with the new YA librarian.
• Was asked to give two presentations at our state youth services conference, one on STEM programming for younger children, and the other on my Kidbrarian program.
• Collection management was pushed to the back-burner a bit this year due to all the changes and staffing issues, but after having gone through several rounds of weeding the entire youth collection based on circulation the previous two years, I was able to review the board books, picture books, and early readers based on condition, and after weeding and shifting aggressively so that shelving followed best practices I freed up a significant amount of space to start expanding the picture book collection.
• Conducted a survey on youth services burnout, the possible factors contributing to it, and how youth services staff could be better supported. This is a major issue across the field, needs to be addressed, and we should be able to discuss it without fear of retaliation, though sadly that's not always the case.
• Developed collaborative relationships with the new YA and adult services librarians.
• Was finally able to clear out enough space and purchase furniture and accessories for the dramatic play area I've wanted to add since I arrived three years ago (pictured below)!!
  
  

Now, looking forward to 2025, some of the things I want to accomplish are:

• Work on organization, time-management, and planning further ahead. I've realized that to do this, I have to carve out dedicated time on my schedule for organizing and planning. Once I'm on top of that, I believe the time-management will take care of itself.
• Work on delegating more tasks, though this is very challenging because most of the time there isn't enough staff with the skills required who have the time and are available at the time I need them. 
• Keep my office reasonably neat and organized.
• Now that the new children's assistant is fully trained and ready, I am turning the weekly preschool storytime over to her in order to do more outreach, as well as having her take the lead on one program during spring and fall breaks, and a few programs during the summer, again helping me gain a more appropriate balance on where my time is going.
• Get back to spending an appropriate amount of time on collection management.
• Have summer reading all planned even earlier this year, by April 1st.
• Add regular programming specifically for 4th-6th graders in September.
• Attend the state public library and youth services conference, but probably not present. Though I like making a professional contribution to the field, it isn't supported in my position and presentation prep is done mostly on my own time.
• Continue tracking time and compiling data to document everything I'm doing and attempt to demonstrate the need for more staff in order to increase programming and outreach and offer better customer service (more on this in an upcoming post).
• As always, working towards a better work/life balance, trying to figure out how to leave work at work and not let work stress cause so much anxiety that it robs me of sleep, negatively affects my physical and mental health, and interferes with my life outside of work as it does now.

And once again, I hope for peace. I crave stability, calm, and a healthy work environment. But I don't know if that exists anywhere anymore. So I guess I need to instead hope for acceptance, being able to let go, not care as much, being able to compartmentalize more? The other thing I noticed in reviewing all my previous new year's posts is how the tone has changed and one can clearly see the trauma and burnout developing over the last few years. I'm not sure what the answer is, but in the meantime I'll keep trying to focus on the joy I find in working with the kids and families and building healthier boundaries. I still love being a children's librarian, just wish it wasn't as stressful and exhausting as it's been. 

Anyone else want to share 2024 accomplishments they're particular proud of? Let's normalize taking pride and voicing our accomplishments and celebrating each other!! Any exciting goals for 2025?

Happy New Year!!

Happy Noon Year's Eve! - Kids' Program

 

I once helped my supervisor with a Noon Year's Eve program several years back, and have been waiting for the chance to do one myself, and this year things finally aligned. Since this was a new thing for this library I wasn't sure how many families would attend, but I planned more activities than I typically do just in case everybody had cabin fever and decided to show up. As it turned out, we ended up with the perfect size crowd and we all had so much fun that we decided we definitely want to do this again next year.

I planned it as a family/all-ages program, with activities that were geared for elementary ages, but would also work for preschoolers, and a finale at noon:

• DIY Confetti Poppers
• Decorate a Crown or Hat
• Make a Noisemaker
• Fireworks Painting
• Mini-Megaphone
• Fizzing Confetti Chemistry
• Countdown & Balloon Drop

I had enough at each station for 24-36 participants, and the fireworks painting and fizzing confetti could easily be stretched for even more if needed. I did splurge a little on this program, mainly on confetti of all things (!), but you could definitely do it for less. Not counting craft staples or other materials we had already (markers, glue, tape, craft sticks, paper plates, hats, some crowns, a few extra cardboard tubes.) , I estimate I spent about $130, but I have confetti, pom-poms, jewels, and balloons leftover, and again, you could definitely spend less on confetti, balloons, and paint than I did.

Budget: $130, but had stuff leftover & you could definitely spend less

Age Range: Family, kids ranging from 2-10 years old.

# of Participants: 32 kids (plus 23 accompanying adults), could have accommodated a few more 

Staff: 1 Children's Librarian, with the help of 2 part-time assistants (one was in and out during the program because she was also covering the desk). 

#1 - DIY Confetti Poppers

I put all of the materials in containers in the center of the table, along with instructions with photos in a sign-holder. No one had any trouble, and everyone loved them!

Materials:

• Cardboard tubes (I purchased new white tubes), 30 for $12
• Balloons, 50 for maybe $5
• Masking tape (we already had several rolls in different colors)
• Various types of confetti (this was my big splurge*)
• Multicolored starburst - 2 packages, $15
• Gold and silver stars in two sizes - 1 package, $7
• Gold flakes - 1 package, $7
• Mini sparkly pom-poms - 1000 for $10, had at least half the package leftover
• Scissors
• Markers for decorating (could also add washi tape and/or stickers), optional
  
  

1. Tie the end of the balloon.
2. Cut off the top of the balloon.
3. Put the balloon over one end of the cardboard tube and tape in place.
4. Decorate tube if desired.
5. Put a little confetti and a few pom-poms in the tube.
6. Pull balloon, and release. POP! Confetti everywhere!

* I splurged on the confetti, buying several types. You could definitely spend less by buying a bulk package of just one type or mix, and you could make your own by cutting up bits and punching holes from colored paper if you have the time. That would be a good job for people working at the desk to do during less busy times.

#2 - Decorate a Crown or a Hat

Very straightforward, put out the materials and the decorated their crown or hat as much or as little as they wanted.

Materials:

• cheap, plastic top hats, (no cost to me as I inherited a bunch and only included them because I already had them, otherwise I would've just stuck with crowns)
• metallic cardstock crowns, assorted styles and colors, (I was gifted a dozen of these)
• gold cardstock crowns, assorted styles, 10 for $8, included sticker gems
• strips of construction paper (for bands around top hat)
• adhesive jewels (they came on 3x5 or 4x6 sheets, which I cut up into roughly 1 square inch pieces), $10

#3 - DIY Noisemaker

Again, put out all the materials in the center of the table with instructions in a signholder, along with an example.

Materials:

• Small paper plates (I think ours were 4"), 2 per noisemaker
• Large craft sticks
• Dried beans (we used black-eyed peas for luck), 2 lbs for $4
• Masking tape in assorted colors
• Markers or crayons for decorating

1. Turn both plates face down and decorate the bottom/underside of the plates as desired.
2. Turn one plate over, and tape a craft stick to the lower half to be a handle.
3. Place a spoonful or two of dried beans in the center of the plate.
4. Place the second plate on top, and tape all around the edges to seal.
5. Shake! 

Note - You could use a stiffer plastic plate and omit the handle and hold like a tambourine as well.

#4 - Fireworks Painting

These turn out really well if the kids follow instructions and stamp rather than swirl the cut straws.

Materials:

• paper
• washable tempera or craft paints (we used glitter paint, 8 4oz-bottles for $15)
• small 4" plastic plates to dispense paints on to (pack of 8 for $1.25 at DollarTree)
• assorted straws, we used both regular and boba tea straws

Prep: Unless working with kids over 10, I recommend prepping the straws in advance. Cut the bottoms of several straws into many small sections and bend back so that looks like a starburst/flower. We made varied lengths for larger and smaller fireworks. Dispense one color of paint in the center of each plater and tilt plate to spread it out some.

1. Press the cut end of the straw into the desired color paint, making sure the entire length of the slivers are coated.
2. Press the painted end of the straw onto the paper; lift up and rotate slightly, then press again. Use the straw like a stamp, not a brush. You can layer colors for some nice effects if you are careful.
3. Repeat with different colors to make more fireworks.
4. Let dry.

#5 - Mini-Megaphone

A super cheap and easy filler craft, but we could have skipped it.

Materials:

• Color-your-own mini-megaphone craft kits, 2 packs of 12 each, $15
• Markers
• Crayons
• Tape

1. Place included stickers if desired.
2. Color
3. Roll up, insert tabs.
4. Tape for less frustration

#6 - Fizzing Confetti Chemistry

A super simple STEM station using one the many variations of baking soda and vinegar experiments. We had this station staffed to prevent disasters, LOL! I did have a sign with the instructions and measurements, as well as the formula for the chemical reaction, which included the formulas, molecular models, scientific names, and common names. You will need to test and possibly adjust amounts from those given, as it will vary depending on the size and shape of the cups used. The baking soda and vinegar react to produce bubbles of carbon dioxide, the same bubbles that are found in carbonated soft drinks (along with water and sodium acetate).

Materials:

• plastic champagne flutes, 1 or 2 is enough, set of 2 from DollarTree, $1.25
• baking soda
• distilled vinegar
• Gold flake confetti - 1 package, $7
• trays to contain mess

1. Place the champagne flute in the center of a tray.
2. Put 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in the champagne flute.
3. Add 1/2 teaspoon of confetti.
4. Pour in 1/8 cup (2 Tablespoons) of vinegar, all at once.
5. Watch it bubble up, fizz and sparkle! (And possibly overflow.)

#7 - Countdown & Balloon Drop

I rigged up a balloon drop using a large cheap plastic tablecloth that I cut in half, then punched holes along the cut edges and threaded ribbon through the holes, leaving long ends hanging down to pull. I tucked the corners and a couple of points along the sides under the edges of the dropped-ceiling tiles, then filled with balloons.

I had a 30-second countdown video pulled up on the TV that I started as we approached noon, and then once we hit zero, the kids shot confetti and rattled their noisemakers, my assistant began blowing bubbles with a bubble gun, and I pulled the ribbon to drop the balloons. After the balloons were all down, I picked up a second bubble gun to add more bubbles, and started playing a New Year's Eve play list beginning with Auld Lang Syne. I forgot to take pictures of the balloon drop before or during, only thought to take one after.

How It Went 

It was a wonderful, chaotic mess, in the best way possible!

I had no idea what kind of turnout to aspect, as I haven't done a Noon Year's Eve party at this library before, and people were used to us not having anything going on during this week. Plus, all kinds of respiratory diseases are running rampant in our area right now: Covid, flu, RSV, and other unknown viruses. So I had the usual fear of either hardly anybody showing up, or way too many. But we had a perfect crowd of 55 kids and adults, who had so much fun! 

The biggest hit was the confetti poppers, which of course resulted in confetti everywhere! The kids loved it, and the adults were amazed that we didn't care about the mess. The fireworks painting was also a big hit, and also a big mess. By the end of the program, there were all kinds of confetti on the floor and on the tables, paint all over the table at that station, and a few balloons that people didn't take. Though it looked like a disaster, in all honesty it wasn't that hard to clean up. I know parents love the opportunity for their kids to engage in messy activities somewhere other than home, so I try to provide them as much as I can. Most of our programs are not this big or this messy, so we don't mind indulging every now and then.

The pictures below show some of the aftermath:

What I Would Do Differently

Really, the only things I would modify are (1) that we probably could do with one less station, and (2) the balloon drop. While the balloon drop worked, it didn't work as well as I'd have liked for a couple reasons. For one thing, one tablecloth really wasn't big enough to hold enough balloons, and I over-filled the first batch of balloons, so I ended up with only 36 balloons in the drop instead of 50. I should have kept them small in order to fit more of them in the drop. Also, between static electricity and being packed tightly, some of the balloons didn't fall and had to be knocked out with a broom. I will try to figure out a better method next year or invest in an actual balloon drop net, but we will do some type of balloon drop again. I'm also going to look into latex-free options next time. 

I had originally thought about serving cute mini-cupcakes with confetti sprinkles and water or juice, but ultimately decided against it, between having no idea how many people to expect and the amount of sickness going around. But next year I might re-consider now that I have a better idea of what kind of attendance to expect.

Where Are the Toddler Books??

 

In the spirit of Festivus, I'm going to air one of my grievances with the publishing industry - Where are the books for toddlers and younger preschoolers??

I find I am having more and more trouble finding picture books suitable for storytime, particularly for toddler storytime. I currently work at a smaller library and inherited a relatively small and poorly developed picturebook collection that was missing many of my favorite storytime books. Unfortunately, I found that many of these titles were now out of print, or available only in paperback, which is not suitable for a library collection, or board book, which is too small for storytime use. In addition I found that some of my old favorites that used to work in storytime no longer did because they were too long, text-heavy, and/or sophisticated for the younger audiences I was now seeing.

So I have been on a continuous search for picturebooks that are short and simple enough for the younger and/or less-attentive audiences of today, yet still engaging, and I am finding they are very rare these days. It seems that while storytime audiences have grown younger and attention spans even shorter, picture books have paradoxically become more text heavy and sophisticated. So many of them would be great for read-alouds for a slightly older audience of kindergarten or first grade or a one-on-one lap-sit read with a caregiver, but just don't work well in storytime. It is becoming nearly impossible to find good books for toddler storytime in particular, and I've had to resort to buying used copies of older favorites. 

So publishers and authors, this is what I'm looking for in a toddler storytime book:

• No more than 32 pages, 28 would be even better.
• No more than one sentence per page.
• Repeating phrases
• A good rhythm when reading aloud is key!
• Rhyming scheme helps
• Relatable content
• Bright, bold, simple illustrations
• Cuteness or simple, obvious humor is a plus
• Motions to imitate
• Not boring, more than just identifying things or simple statements
• Fun to read out loud
• Onomatopoeia is also a plus
• Reinforces basic concepts in a fun way
• Diverse representation - skin color, body types, disabilities, families, etc.

Here are a few examples of great toddler storytime books; I'm sure there are more, but I'm struggling to come up with titles right now, especially more recent ones:

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See and the other books in the Bear series by Bill Martin, Jr. & Eric Carle
• Wiggle, Stretch, and Bounce by Doreen Cronin & Scott Menchin
• One-osaurus, Two-osaurus by Kim Norman & Pierre Collet-Derby
• Clip-Clop and Jingle-Jingle by Nicola Smee
• There's a Dragon In Your Book and others in the series by Eric Fletcher & Greg Abbott
• Bing! Bang! Chugga! Beep! by Bill Martin, Jr., Michael Sampson, & Nathalie Beauvois
• Ten Tiny Babies and others by Karen Katz
• Hello, Baby! by Mem Fox & Steve Jenkins

And finally, a quick note on board books. I'd love to see more large-size board book formats! These are great for storytime because the pages are easy to turn, people can see the pictures, and the kids can't tear them up if they get a hold of them. And, just like with picture books, I'm seeing a trend in very text heavy board books, often board book versions of books originally published in picturebook format. We need more simple board books that are developmentally appropriate for babies and toddlers with simple, bright illustrations or photographs, and either single words or very short (2-3 word) phrases. 

So please, dear authors and publishers, please bring us some great toddler read-alouds in the new year!

And dear readers, if you know of any great books for toddler storytime that are still in print in hardback picturebook format, please leave them in the comments!

Happy Festivus!

The Gingerbread Man - Preschool Storytime

I typically do a "Cookie" theme as an inclusive, holiday-adjacent storytime in December. However, in January a new staff member will be taking over the preschool storytime and really wanted to do a cookie theme as Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is her favorite childhood book. So I decided to give mine a more narrow focus, and made it "Gingerbread Man" themed (or "Gingerbread People" if you prefer, but I unfortunately could not find more gender-inclusive gingerbread books that were short enough for preschoolers).

I greeted everyone and introduced the storytime by talking about how many people like to bake cookies this year, and even more people like to eat cookies this time of year! We discussed who had already done some holiday baking and favorite cookies, which led into our warm-up, an action rhyme that would allow us to pretend to make cookies:

Making Cookies

We are making cookie dough;
Round and round the beaters go.
Add some flour, just two cups.
Stir and mix the batter up.

Roll them, cut them, nice and neat.
Put them on a cookie sheet.
Bake them, cool them on a rack.
Share them with my friends for snack!

Then we sang our lead-in song, "If You're Ready for a Story", prior to our first story. I began with a traditional telling of the classic Gingerbread Man story, which I found in a collection of classic folktales by Usborne unfortunately entitled Stories for Little Boys. Despite the completely unnecessarily gendered and sexist title, it is otherwise a nice collection of classic folktales that are not too text-heavy or dark, as so many are. (It also includes Pinocchio, Under the Ground, In the Castle, and The Emperor's New Clothes.) 

Since most children aren't familiar with the classic folktales, I like to incorporate them when I can for cultural literacy, and to provide context for the contemporary retellings that often have a humorous twist.

Next, we did a counting-down rhyme, with clipart images of gingerbread people on the magnetic board (I had intended to make nice felt ones, but ran out of time):

Five Little Gingerbread Men

Five little gingerbread men in a row,
Not gonna eat one no, no, no!
But they look so sweet from head to toe
Crunch, munch...uh oh!

Continue until...

No little gingerbread men in a row;
Wasn't gonna eat one, no, no, no.
But they looked so sweet that it's sad to tell
Crunch, munch... oh well!

I followed that with reading How to Catch a Gingerbread Man by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton. There are numerous titles in the How to Catch... series, and while I have found this series to be somewhat hit and miss, this was definitely one of the better books of the series. 

The story is set in a bookstore storytime, where they are reading the classic Gingerbread Man story when the Gingerbread Man leaps out of the book and runs away, with the children in quick pursuit. They try various traps in an attempt to capture the Gingerbread Man, but with the help of several other classic storybook characters he always manages to escape. In the end, he decides to return to his story on his own. I loved the way the book featured a storytime setting, and tied in several other classic stories. Though preschoolers may not recognize them all, the adults will appreciate them.

I followed that with another "Five Little Gingerbread Men" rhyme, instead of the song I had originally planned, due to the small size and low energy of the group.

Five Little Gingerbread Men

Five Little Gingerbread men lying on a tray,
One jumped up and ran away,
Shouting, "Catch me, catch me, catch me if you can...
I'm really fast, I'm a gingerbread man!"

Four Little Gingerbread men... (Count down the numbers repeating the stanza above...)

No more gingerbread men lying on a tray,
They all jumped up and ran away.
I guess I'll have to make more another day,
and next time I'll eat them before they run away.

I skipped the usual "Good-bye" song, and sent the kids to wash their hands (we have a preschool restroom attached to the program room) while I put out the craft and some mini-gingerbread men cookies I happened to find at the grocery store a few days earlier. 

In the past I've gotten the regular Pepperidge Farm Gingermen and given them icing to decorate with, but after discovering most kids don't like them, I decided against it this time. But then by chance I found small packages of mini-Gingerman on sale, and thought that would be perfect; since they were smaller, there would be less waste if kids took one taste and didn't want them. However, these were sweeter and less spicy than the regular Gingermen, and the kids enjoyed them.

For the craft, I had gingerbread houses with stickers to decorate with that I had found in my office when I first started working here, something I presume my predecessor had planned before deciding to retire. I'm not sure where she got them, but similar ones can be purchased from Oriental Trading and Amazon.

While they were enjoying their gingerbread men cookies and working on the craft, I decided to read a third book, The Ninjabread Man  by C. J. Leigh and Chris Gall, because I think it's really cute, I knew at least one of the kids would really appreciate it, and it was just too quiet (a very rare occurrence!). As the name suggests, this is a clever re-telling of the gingerbread man story set in a dojo, with the old sensei making a magical ninjabread man, who runs off to test the speed, strength, and wisdom of the ninjas in training.

How It Went 
It was a bit of an off day. I was looking forward to this storytime, which would be my last preschool storytime as my assistant will be taking over in January to free up some of my time for other things, but at the time it was supposed to start, there was no a single soul in the children's department. I waited 10 minutes, then gave up and went back to my office to work. A couple of minutes later, one of the circ staff came back and said there were a couple of families, chronic latecomers, asking about storytime.

Normally at that point I would've just said, sorry, no one was here so storytime was cancelled, but since I really wanted to do this last storytime, and had dressed for the theme (see below), I told them I would do an abbreviated storytime since it was so late. Since it was just three kids, I skipped over some of the usual intro and warm-up. It worked out, and the kids enjoyed it. I overheard one later telling a friend who arrived at the library later all about it and telling him he should have come. I don't know why, but we really struggle with attendance for the preschool storytime, while the toddler storytime consistently has 12-15 kids, and sometimes as many as 20-25.

I decided to be extra festive, and instead of my usual "Oh, snap!" gingerbread man t-shirt, I went all out and wore a gingerbread woman dress I bought on clearance after the holidays several years ago, which I also wore later that evening to promote the library at the local preschool's "Festival of Trees" where each classroom decorates a tree based on a different picture book. In keeping with the theme of the festival, I decorated a small tree on my table with gingerbread people and animals.